Did u convert to JW because u were ignorant, arrogant or some other reason?

by jwfacts 30 Replies latest jw friends

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  jwfacts

  To believe the Watchtower story takes a high degree of arrogance. To think you were so special that God drew you to his organization for salvation. but 6 billion other humans deserve destruction, is placing huge value on your own importance.

  If you converted to being a JW do you think you were sucked in because you did not know the full story (ignorance) or was it because you really wanted to believe you were more special than everyone else (arrogance)? Or is there another factor that I am missing?

  I am struggling to come to terms with my own parents, who converted in their mid twenties. My mother is a very controlling person, and I wonder if she was conned by the WTS, or if her personality drew her to a religion where she could say she was right and anyone that disagreed deserved to die. From your own experience, do people convert out of pure intentions, or is it a power trip inn order to feel special ?
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  greendawn

  It was definitely out of ignorance and naivity for me it was the misguided belief that the JWs were a genuinely spiritual collective with high moral standards something rare in modern society which in fact they were not and when I realised that I left. They totally lacked fraternal love.
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  daniel-p

  I can honestly say it was due to ignorance. I was raised in the "truth" and as such, had my worldview constructed around it. I began to develop my "independant spirit" at a young age due to general stubbornness, and I think this impelled me to examine my beliefs even if it triggered negative emotions consistent with the cult mindset.
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  wanderlustguy

  If you converted to being a JW do you think you were sucked in because you did not know the full story (ignorance) or was it because you really wanted to believe you were more special than everyone else (arrogance)?

  I think arrogance is the wrong term here by far. I never knew anyone who just came in and was the least bit arrogant, usually it was the other way around, low self esteem. When you don't love yourself you cling to anything that makes you feel special, whether it is an abusive mate, cheating significant other, a group of friends that just demean you all the time, etc.

  Really wouldn't it be great if God picked you out of all the people in the world to have a special knowledge of everything? I don't think that is arrogant at all, but an impossible dream.

  WLG
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  wanderlustguy

  Oh...and I was born in. The appearance of arrogance was because I was taught that everyone else besides witnesses was going to die...and the dumbasses didn't even know it.
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  Cabin in the woods

  I was simply searching.

  cab
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  parakeet

  I was dragged by my mother into the JWs as a child. My mother grew up in Europe during WWII and suffered some terrible experiences then. I strongly feel that she joined the JWs because they offered a "haven" of security, certainty, and friendship, all of which had been lacking in her life up to then. I don't think she was arrogant or ignorant, just lonely and frightened.
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  Finally-Free

  I converted to JWism when I was 25. I had been living a life of crime, drug abuse, etc. I had also been unemployed for nine months due to a recession, and was on medication for depression. My life was going to shit fast, and I realized I needed to make some drastic lifestyle changes. I had already cut off my friends, as many of the problems I was experiencing had a direct relationship to my association with them. For example, although innocent, I went to jail for a crime committed by 2 of my "friends". My mom was already a JW, having converted a few years earlier. Between her and her "friends" that kept coming to the house, it didn't take long for them to convince me, especially after a brother™ hired me to work for him cleaning windows.

  In other words, I had hit rock bottom, and the JWs were there to exploit my vunerability. I was surrounded by them, and I was absorbed in record time. I was raised a Catholic, but knew nothing about the bible at all. I was the perfect sucker.

  The arrogance came later. For a guy who had hit rock bottom, it was nice to feel special for a while. It didn't take long for that "special" feeling to turn into arrogance, and eventually outright contempt for anyone who was not a JW. An experience at a door in service™ one day brought me to the realization that 20 years of "religion" had done nothing more than teach me to hate everything that was not a mirror image of me. I had become what I hated most - a self righteous bastard.

  W
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  mineralogist

  I'd say it is a lack of information - at least in my case. With todays ability to search the internet i'd probably won't have joined the JWs. But of course you never know. For every person there could be the right cult to join.
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  Balsam

  Well my then husband and and I were on the verge of divorce after less than a year of marriage. The JW came into our lives promising if we followed their teachings on the bible then we would be extremely happy. My ex is quite an arrogant person and always thought he was right about everything even when he was obviously wrong. I think I got caught up in the idea of women needed to be submissive and obedient to their husbands. I believed in the bible and the bible did say that. I never liked the idea of JW being the only religion who had God's approval, but it was useless to voice an opinion against it.

  I was very gullible and ignorant really. I was married to an arrogant man who knew it all and I just followed along and eventually tried to make the best of it.

  Sorry your folks raised you in the JW's, my boys are really pissed about it too. At least I left, and when I did my two sons left with them. But I think their still very angry at all the missed out on.